Has anyone used WTM recommendations for middle school science?

[Freya]

I'm considering my options for middle school science, and am wondering if anyone has used the WTM recommendations for science.  I'm a little nervous about the idea of going completely without a written curriculum, but really, I pieced together a lot of things myself over the past year and a bit anyhow, so I would probably be fine.  How solid of a science education would the WTM recommendations give a child?  My daughter is very science oriented (and has been since she had even the slightest understanding of what science is), so, just in case she decides to pursue a career in this area, I want to make sure I give her what she needs in this subject.

 

Edit: For clarity, I guess I should say that I mean the recommendations that include not using a curriculum (like RS4K) -- rather, using a compilation of various things like science encyclopedias, and terrarium, dissection and experiment kits.

[Classically Minded]

We plan on using Elemental Science, which follows the WTM method but does tweak it some.  I like that it does most of the work for us and we just follow the lesson plan.  We are still doing the elementary physics with Elemental Science but will move on to the middle grades Biology by summer.

[Murrayshire]

We love Elemental Science here! This post just reminds me that I need to update my blog with my ES pages......

We usually do the "Want More" assignments for each week as well and add in a ton of science videos and reading from various sources, like magazines.....Facebooks Science News for students for current events. ES takes the headache out of planning and allows us to add more to the topics my dc enjoy the most!

[lionfamily1999]

I have and imho it gave them both a more well-rounded understanding of the subjects they did that way.

 

If I had the time now, we would still be using this approach.  Unfortunately, I do not, and I miss it greatly.

[lionfamily1999]

By subjects I mean astronomy, earth science, biology, &tc.

[Haiku]

We tried and ditched WTM-style science. Like the history recommendations, which suggest using an encyclopedia, we found that the WTM suggestions and the use of an encyclopedia were incredibly dry. Science is so exciting and hands-on, and we felt very stifled by the WTM approach.

 

In fact, I have found that the whole "one science a year for a whole year" approach does not work for us. We have switched to doing several different sciences a year, varying our materials and approach, and the kids have really enjoyed it.

 

Unfortunately, we found many of the WTM elementary science suggestions to be very dull, as well.

 

I'm going to go even further and state that I don't think that the science rotations are an effective way to study science. My kids remembered very little of their first grade biology in 5th grade, for example. I think that integrated science is a much better way to keep knowledge current, age-appropriate, and progressing.

[happycc]

What have you used for integrated science? 

 

Sorry to hijack this but science is making me bang my head ever year.

 

We used Elemental Science and I liked it but my kids and the college student tutor I hired to help run the experiments didn't like it.